R.E.M. or The Smiths

R.E.M., just based on the EP and first four full albums. The Smiths are a classic example of a great singles band IMO.

 

You know what they say, if you're too busy to listen to the Smiths, you're too busy!

 

Well, since I've bought everything ever released by REM, and never bought a thing by The (much overrated, in my opinion) Smiths you can guess how I voted. Never got the fuss about The Smiths. My best mate was soooooo into them in the 80's and it was our major difference, music-wise...

 

That describes me exactly although I did own a copy of Meat Is Murder and The Queen Is Dead for a couple of weeks (given to me only) back in 1989 and I just couldn't work out why they were so highly rated. Morrissey is someone I just could never like at all on any level whatsoever. If you extract Johnny Marr from The Smiths there would be no redeeming feature of the band in my honest opinion.

 

I can`t stand The Smiths....

 

haha yes guilty! Or maybe just lazy
If you have only heard one Smiths song I would suggest you try The Queen is Dead first, but all their five albums plus 2 albums worth of singles are equally great.

 

I really love REM (I literally have all their main albums on CD, though not the expanded editions yet, I'm afraid). BUT, early and even middle-period REM (i.e. everything before Monster) is a little' played-out' for me (and there's a bit of a sameness to it all, especially the early stuff). Great, yes, but it doesn't push my buttons as much any more.

I don't have quite everything by The Smiths, but I've been more in a "Smiths" (and "Morrissey") kind of mood for a good 10 years now. I think I have all but a couple early Morrissey solo albums too, and Steven Patrick (both with and without Johnny Marr) seems a bit more mysterious, and holds up better for me than at least the first half of REM's output.

So for the moment (and the last decade), maybe The Smiths and Morrissey, by a nose.

 

I'm not sure the Smiths' standards would have dropped over time. Instead, it was a case of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Morrissey had some fantastic solo records in those years you mention. I still love 1992's "Your Arsenal". His fans love 1994's "Vauxhall and I" and then there's "Viva Hate". It falls down over time because the quality of writers and musicianship was suspect in parts. The writers who did the music on "Kill Uncle" or all Morrissey songs not written by Alain Whyte. He was Morrissey's best collaborater after "Viva Hate". Oasis isn't quite in the same league as The Smiths. Johnny Marr had two young songwriters back then who wanted to create music like he did: Noel Gallagher and Bernard Butler. The Suede stuff then was far more original and musically challenging than Oasis.

 

I've never cared for any Smiths or REM members' solo work or off-shoot projects. Dunno why they've never registered with me (unlike the solo work of plenty of other well-known musicians), but it does reinforce my tenancy to simply judge these two bands on the existing body of work; REM's is much, much larger since they remained active for twenty extra years, so there's more for me to love, then grow tired over, then love again. The Smiths' career, on the other hand, seems cut short by The Smiths themselves. This has a bit of a halo effect on their handful of releases; they made fewer mistakes since they were around for a shorter time. Thus, when I grow tired of The Smiths, it takes quite awhile for me to come back around to listening again.

 

IMO, the only American bands on par with REM are The Eagles and Tom Petty. The American bands you listed are a step below REM-IMO.

 

Both. and death to false dichotomies!

 

I only know one single and I think it was the b-side. Lol

 

The Smiths of course!!!

they were the only band where EVERY song was killer. only they could fit so much beauty in under 2 minutes:

 

this was the song that made me fall for the Smiths. Goofy story: I was 16 and was really intro Prince. I went on a first date to see"Pretty In Pink". After dropping her off, I went to Tower Records and bought the soundtrack specifically for the Prince-related song by one of his proteges Jesse Johnson. On that soundtrack, I was first introduced to New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Smiths. That song was just very personal for what I was going through with her at the time. I could relate to it a lot more than "Su-Su-Sudio" or "The Re-flex ...flex-flex-flex-flex"

 

I like both bands quite a lot. But I voted for R.E.M., and it was not really a close call. One of my favorite albums of all time by any artist is:



Can't say that any Smiths album is in the top 25.

 

Life's Rich Pageant is number 2 on my all time list. Only behind The Who's Quadrophenia.

 

Spotted these in a local cafe today. Bespoke, design your own Smiths jacket. Really nice, but a tad pricey at seventy quid a pop.

 

Love them both, but I went with The Smiths.

 

That's a very tough call for me. I went with REM because I listen to them more now days but I do think they hung around too long. I think The Smiths got out at the right time.

 

I just can't make myself vote on this matter. Two of the greatest bands of my youth. Got oodles of music from both, and preference mostly just depends on my current mood.

 

I can't make myself vote either.

I was obsessed with The Smiths as a teenager and in my early twenties - during that same time period, I barely listed to R.E..M. Now, as an adult, I listen to R.E.M. much more often than The Smiths. However, I still can't pick one over the other as being the better band, or say that one of the two has had a greater impact on my life overall.

 

REM by miles and miles.

 

20,000?

 

For me, REM, overall

But it's not that simple...

The best of REM > best of The Smiths

But,

The worst of REM < worst of The Smiths